Former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has accused 10 principal officers of the House of shortchanging the Nigerian taxpayers by appropriating about N10 billion as “office running cost”, which he said was shared among the senior lawmakers at various times since they were first elected into the House.
He listed the 10 principal officers and the funds they have allegedly received so far as running costs to include: the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, who allegedly got the largest share of N1.5 billion.
Others on the list and the amount they allegedly got are: Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun, N800 million; Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, N1.2 billion; his deputy, Buba Jibril, N1.2 billion; House Whip, Alhassan Doguwa, N1.2 billion; and his deputy, Pally Iriase, N700 million.
The rest included Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, N1.2 billion; Minority Whip, Yakubu Barde, N700 million; Deputy Minority Whip, Binta Bello, N700 million; and one Chuma he listed as Minority Whip, N700 million.
Jibrin, who made this claim in a statement issued last night, stated that his latest revelation was part of his efforts to expose shady deals in the House.
The statement reads, “Today, I will start with the 10 Principal Officers of the House of Representatives. If just these 10 are named and shamed it will force reform in the House. I will therefore provide what each one of them had collected as ‘office running cost’ in their entire stay in the House.
“If any one of them disputes my figure, he or she should not make drama out of it but just simply tell the country how much he or she has collected.
“From computation of various sub-heads of allowances of the House, Speaker Yakubu Dogara has been in the House from 2007 to date. He has received about N1.5 billion. Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun has been in the house from 2011 to date. He has received about N800 million. House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila has been in the House from 2003 to date. He has received about N1.2 billion. Deputy House Leader Buba has been in the House from 2007 to date. He received about N1.2 billion.
“Whip Alhassan Doguwa has been in the House from 2003 to date. He has received about N1.2 billion. Deputy Whip Pally Iriase has been in the House from 2011 to date. He has received N700 million. Minority Leader Leo Ogor has been in the House from 2007 to date. He has received N1.2 billion.
“Deputy Minority Leader Barde has been in the House from 2011 to date. He has received N700 million. Minority Whip Chuma has been in the House from 2007 to date. He had received N800 million. And finally, Deputy Minority Whip Binta has been in the House from 2011 to date. She has received N700 million.
“So in between these 10 Principal Officers, the country has pumped about N10 billion – and still counting. As I have mentioned earlier, in most cases with few exceptions, these funds are diverted for personal use. I will provide further break-down of these figures in due course. I will also provide 50 additional names of members with worst cases of diversion of such funds in due course,” he said.
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